Ink fountain conversion device for printing presses



April 19 m. PLAISTED 2,236,805

' INK FOUNTAIN CONVERSION DEVICE FOR PRINTING FRESSES Filed Sept. 11,- 1949' iadozwa 5* Patented Apr. 1, 1941 'INK FOUNTAIN CONVERSION DEVICE FOR PRINTING PRESSES Ralph D. Plaisted, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor'of one-third toRalph S. Plaisted and one-third to Frank H. Plaisted, both of Los Angeles, Calif.

Application September 11, 1940, Serial No. 356,287

3 Claims.

My invention relates to an improvement in'the conventional ink fountain assembly for printing presses by a conversion device by which only a sectional length of the fountain is utilized for inking purposes,

Most inking fountains for printing press work are made the full length required to transfer ink through the medium of the ink roller to the press through conventional mechanism. Thlsis necessitated due to the fact that at times there is work going through the press that requires the full spread of the ink. However many. printing jobs occur in which only a portion of the fountain is necessary to supply the requisite amount of ink and to accomplish this, fountain dividers are sometimes used. With the'full length of fountain even when the fountain or doctor blade is pressed against .the ink roller to spread the ink only from a portion of'the roller or where fountain dividers are used, much work is entailed in cleaning the fountain and as above mentioned, an

unnecessary length of the fountain is utilized and filled with ink.

An object and feature of my invention is to use some of'the conventional equipment of an elongated-ink fountain toremove the pressure or doctor blade and to substitute my conversion fountain in which the ink is confined only to the desired length of theink roller with which th conversion fountain is utilized.

In one form of my invention or conversion device there is a resilient pressure or doctor blade rigidly connected to transverse end walls. iThese end walls have a concave notch to provide a close fit with the cylindrical surface of the ink'roller. The device is clamped in'placev preferably adjacent the upper edge ofthe' blade to a fixedpart of the frame of the ink fountain assembly. The

adjusting pressure screws used against the fullas it is insufficient to allow spreading of ink lengthwise of the ink roller. Moreover thelevel of the ink in the conversion fountain may be controlled.

Another form of my construction employs end walls or dividers which are clamped to the frame of the conventional ink fountain after removing the elongated doctor blade, these being spaced a definite distance apart and fitted between these end walls is a short length resilient doctor blade. This has a close fit at its ends with the confining end walls and the contact pressure is developed by the conventional adjusting screws pressing the doctor. blade against the film of ink on the ink #roller. although in this construction'there is a slight movement in adjusting of the doctor blade between the ends of this blade'and the confining end walls, the clearance is made so close that there is no danger of leakage of ink. I My invention is illustrated in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section through a portion of' Fig. 2 is a plan taken in the direction of the arrow 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section similar to Fig. 1 showing a modified conversion fountain with the fixed end walls and the adjustable fountain blade. "Referring first to' Figs. 1. and 2, a portion of the fountain base II is indicated as having a bottom wall 12, a vertical wall l3- having a beveled sloping upper edge. There is a right angular corner I5 between the outside surfaces of the wall l3 and the bottom wall I2. There is a bevel l6 provided at the inner edge of the bottom wall and a vertical transverse face ll. There are a seriesof fountain blade adjusting screws threaded through the base l2 and each having a wrench grip head 2|, these being spaced apart in the usual manner. designated as the ink roller is mounted in a constep by step rotation. The direction of rotation is indicated by the arrow 26, this being shown in Fig. 1 as clockwise. The ink is to be transferred to the plate 30 which is done through the medium of one or more transfer rolls of which two are shown designated 31, 32, these being conventional for a platen type of press.

The conversion fountain of Figs. 1 and 2 designated 40 has as a rigid assembly two end walls 4| and 42 connected by a resilient fountain or doctor blade 43. The upper edges 44 of the ends are shown as substantially horizontal, the lower edges are aligned with the blade 43. The blade is designed. to fit on the bevel I l of the end wall I3.

The fountain roll 25 sometimes ventional manner and usually arranged for a Each of the end walls has a concave notch 45 To adjust the pressure of the fountain or doctor Q blade, the adjusting screws are adjusted inwardly or outwardly. These operate against the fountain blade in the same manner as the same adjusting screws would operate against the conventional long fountain blade which has been removed from the assembly to permit installation of my conversion fountain. When the blade is pressed close to the ink roller to allow feeding of a very thin film of ink, manifestly there is a slight clearance indicated at 60 between the upper segment of the notches 45 in the end walls 4i and 42 and the periphery of the ink roller, however as the level of the ink indicated at H is usually well below the top of the ink roller there is practically no danger of the ink seeping lengthwise on the ink roller through this clearance space. It is necessary to have the slight space because in adjusting the conversion fountain blade the end walls are manifestly adjusted upwardly or downwardly.

In the construction of Fig. 3 I show the same assembly for the frame and mounting of the ink roller omitting the details of the platen plate and the transfer rollers. In this construction the conversion fountain 10 has two fixed end walls 1| connected by a transverse bar 12. This is usually a casting of suitable metal. The bar has an under surface 13 to fit snugly against the bevel ll of the end wall l3 of the frame and has an upper fiat sloping surface 14 with a beveled upper edge 15. Each of the end walls has a convex notch 16 which is curved on a radius to have a close, and snug fit on the periphery of the ink or fountain roller 25. There is no up and down adjustment of these end walls and no space through which ink may seep endwise of the roller.

In this construction the fountain and doctor blade 80 made of resilient metal is secured adjacent its upper edge by a series of screws or rivets 8| to the-bar 12, this having a snug fit on the upper surface 14 of such bar. One or more clamps 85 hold the assembly in place, these being substantially the same as the clamps 50 of Figs. 1 and 2 except provided with a slight offset 86 to allow the hook to fit over the upper edge of the doctor blade. In adjusting the fountain blade the adjusting screws 20 are operated in the usual manner and cause an adjusting movement of this blade indicated by the full and dotted lines of Fig. 3. This adjustment requires a somewhat close fit between the opposite ends of the fountain blade I! and the inside of the two end walls H,

however this fit is so close that no ink may seep downwardly at the end walls II. This blade may be adjusted to give the desired film of ink transferred by the ink roller and may develop a varying pressure, that is, a variable spacing to produce a variation in the thickness of the film of ink from one end to the other of the conversion fountain if this should be desired. This is of course dependent on the number of adjusting screws which engage the fountain blade of the conversion fountain.

Although my conversion fountain has been illustrated and' described in a construction as might be used in a platen type of press, it is also quite obvious that it might be adapted and used for the cylinder type presses. Further, more than one conversion unit may be utilized in a fountain and this is particularly useful where two or more colors enter into the printing.

Various changes may be made in the details of the construction without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a device as described having an ink fountain base with pressure adjusting screws mounted therein, the base being shaped to engage an elongated pressure blade to be engaged by the pressure screws and an elongated ink roll, the combination of a conversion fountain provided 'with end walls each having an edge of similar concave shape to form an ink seal with the periphery of the roll between the ends thereof and a pressure blade fitted between the said end walls, means to clamp the conversion fountain to the said base with a portion of the blade positioned for engagement by the adjusting screws.

2. In an ink fountain having a rotatable ink -roll and a fountain support, the combination of a conversion fountain having auxiliary end wallshaving a cylindrical shaped cut out to form a. close fit with the roll, a blade positioned between the said walls, means to clamp the blade and the walls to the fountain support and means on the support to exert a pressure on the blade and shift such blade relative to the end walls to regulate the ink on the roll,

3. In a device as described having a base for an ink fountain with adjusting means therein and shaped to engage an elongated pressure blade, an elongated ink roll extending the length of the base, a conversion fountain including two opposite ends each with a concave edge to form a tight ink seal with the roll, a bar rigidly connected to the ends and positioning such ends a fixed distance apart less than the length of the roll, the bar being shaped to fit the base, a pressure blade secured to the bar and having an edge po- 

